Find a Market for Foam #6

Foam Recycling Resources

Recycling Case Studies: Schools

As schools and districts approach the future, they are continually presented with issues related to waste and budgets. A recent study of middle school students by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found that the average student generated over half a pound of waste per day. Only about a quarter of the waste generated was food waste, the rest was made up of wrappers, trays and other waste products.

Bringing recycling into schools is a great way to teach students the value of environmental stewardship while also reducing the amount of waste a school produces. Porterville Unified School District in Porterville, California has taken on this responsibility by utilizing a melter to recycle their polystyrene trays.

The key to fostering environmental stewardship in the general public is engaging them firsthand with the recycling process. Students from the Rossland Summit School got to experience the trash and recycling process during a class program called Beyond Recycling.

“This is not your ordinary field trip,” said Monica Nissen, Education Program Manager for Wildsight, the organization that facilitated the event. “The kids get to be detectives for a day, to solve the mystery of what happens to our waste once we throw it in the trash.”

Universities are always on the cutting edge of the most important trends in science and energy and Penn State is no different. The Nittany Lions offer their students the chance to help make a difference by recycling polystyrene.

Like most schools, students have on campus dining options that use polystyrene products. What Penn State does differently, is that they recycle their polystyrene foam waste so that it can be turned into new products like pens, picture frames or home construction supplies.